At the pace earth resources are being consumed and depleted with any regard for future generations, that will take care of itself relatively soon.

Yeah, but wouldn't it be nice if politicians acted like grownups and initiated a serious discussion with the public about how we can make choices that transition to a sustainable population level in the least painful way possible before the enviro-economy makes those decisions for us, catastrophically?

It's a bit arbitrary, but you have to draw the line somewhere for where "human" begins. IIRC, 50k BC is around the time of Mitochondrial Eve, which seems a decent place.

Mitochondrial Eve is estimated to have lived around 200,000 years ago,[2] most likely in East Africa,[3] when Homo sapiens sapiens (anatomically modern humans) were developing as a population distinct from other human sub-species.

Has anyone really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like?

You've got to be kidding me. I've been further even more decided to use even go need to do look more as anyone can. Can you really be far even as decided half as much to use go wish for that? My guess is that when one really been far even as decided once to use even go want, it is then that he has really been far even as decided to use even go want to do look more like. It's just common sense.

Any such exercise can be only a highly speculative enterprise, to be undertaken with far less seriousness than most demographic inquiries. Nonetheless, it is a somewhat intriguing idea that can be approached on at least a semi-scientific basis.

And semi-scientific it must be, because there are, of course, absolutely no demographic data available for 99 percent of the span of the human stay on Earth. Still, with some speculation concerning prehistoric populations, we can at least approach a guesstimate of this elusive number.

// Haub realizes that it's just a "highly speculative" "semi-scientific" estimate. Do you? I am sure he would be intrigued to learn your better approach...